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In a moving interview, Athar told how he interrupted the attack and temporarily fought off Ahmed – who had travelled 200 miles from Bradford – with an ice cream advertising board.

He put his critically injured brother over his shoulder and tried to carry him to safety. But 32-year-old Uber taxi driver Ahmed chased the brothers up the street and delivered the fatal blow by stamping on Asad’s face.

Asad Shah's brother Athar

Athar, 35, said: “It was a normal day. I was in the gym with clients and Asad was up in the shop dealing with his customers and the community.

“I was going to finish early because I was tired. I had a student in with me doing work experience and I had one client left.

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“I had said to my brother I was going to cancel my last client and go home but he persuaded me to stay on. I used to train Asad too but he said, ‘You don’t need to do my training – we’ll just go home together.’

“I was nearly finished training my last client when the attack happened. I was in the basement and Asad was in the shop.

“There was a boy who worked in the store, Stephen, and he chapped on the door and said, ‘Your brother needs you.’

“I thought maybe his computer had broken down again.

“I went up the stairs to go inside the shop and I could see my brother being attacked by this evil monster. They were both standing at the time and he had a knife.

“I went up to pull him off my brother. He started swinging the knife at me but I didn’t have anything to protect myself and my brother with. I found a stand outside the shop, an ice cream stand.

“I picked that up to hit the monster, to make him let go of my brother, and he fell to the ground. I picked my brother off the floor and he was still alive. I put him over my shoulder and started running down Minard Road.

“While this was going on, nobody approached to help. There were cars but none of them stopped.

Tanveer Ahmed confessed to the killing of the Glasgow shopkeeper

“I got as far as a few hundred yards but the monster must have caught up because he pushed me or kicked me or did something while I was trying to contact the ambulance on my mobile.

“I had my phone in one hand and I was trying to carry him.

“I lost my brother there. That monster came and jumped on my brother’s face, right there in the street.

“He just moved on to the pavement and laughed while my brother took his last breath. He was laughing. He just laughed and laughed.”

The family had moved to Scotland from Rabwah, Pakistan, in the early 90s to escape the religious hate which eventually cost Asad his life.

Their home and business had been set on fire because they are members of the persecuted Ahmadi sect of Islam and they saw Glasgow as a safe place to build a new life. Asad settled with his wife Khalida, an Indian Scot, who was still too devastated to comment.

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Ahmed, who admitted murder at the High Court in Glasgow on Thursday, was motivated by the fact that Asad was a member of the Ahmadi community, who worship founder Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as a prophet.

During his journey to Glasgow, he had watched online footage of Asad and said “it needs nipped in the bud”.

But the shopkeeper had prided himself on the tolerance he showed to people of all faiths and none, faithfully handing Christmas cards to all his customers.

The murder, on March 24, shocked Scotland. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon joined locals on a vigil in memory of Asad.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at vigil for Asad Shah in Shawlands, Glasgow

The Shah family, including all six of his siblings and his widow, have either left Glasgow or are in the process of leaving.

Asad’s sister, who asked not to be named, said: “We’re devastated as a family and it is difficult to cope. We are part of a really big family, there are so many of us and it is hard to think into the future.

“I don’t know how we have managed to get from March 24 to where we are now because we think of him every waking moment.

“The family have left Scotland or are in the process of leaving. It is now just associated with these intensely painful memories and there are safety concerns as well.

“The family are now on the radar and we don’t feel safe.” She paid tribute to everyone who had stopped to remember Asad after the attack.